Hanna Basin Museum
  • Museum
    • 2020 Carbon Cemetery Association and Hanna Basin Historical Society ​Spring Newsletter
    • 2019: Hanna Basin Historical Society and Carbon Cemetery Association Newsletter
    • Visitors to the Museum
    • Books and Magazines to Read Online about the Hanna Basin
    • Books Available for Purchase at the Hanna Basin Museum
    • Order Form for Materials Available for Purchase at the Museum
    • Membership and Support
    • Links to Other Wyoming Museums >
      • Medicine Bow, Wyoming, Museum and Hanna Basin Neighbor
      • Rock Springs, Wyoming, Historical Museum
    • Copyright Infringement Notification
  • Carbon
    • Hanna Basin Museum - Time Line
    • CARBON CEMETERY RECORDS
    • Carbon Mine Fatality Records
    • Visitors to the Carbon Cemetery
    • Carbon - Wings of Imagination - A Letter From Old Carbon
    • Carbon - A Poem by Mrs. C. E. Ellis
    • 2003: Carbon Cemetery Restoration
    • 2011: Carbon, Carbon County, Cemetery Restoration 2011
    • 2011: Bow River FFA Community Service Project: Carbon Cemetery
    • 2014: The Carbon Cemetery
    • 2015: The Old Carbon Cemetery Privy
  • Hanna
    • HANNA HAPPENINGS
    • THE HANNA CEMETERY: From the Bottom of the Mine
    • HANNA CEMETERY RECORDS
    • Hanna Burial Plots and Lots >
      • Hanna Blocks and Lots 1 - 6
      • Hanna Plots 1 - 50
      • Hanna Plots 51 - 80
      • Hanna Plots 81 - 129
      • Hanna Plots 130 - 175
      • Hanna Plots 176 - 209
      • Hanna Plots 210 - 298
      • Hanna Plots 299 - 349
      • Hanna Plots 350 - 379
      • Hanna Plots 380 - 419
      • Hanna Plots 420 - 500
    • Hanna Early Churches >
      • Introduction to Hanna’s Early Churches
      • Episcopal Church - History, Bell and Cross
      • Methodist Church - Organ
      • Colored Baptist Church
    • Hanna Military in the Hanna Cemetery >
      • Hanna Cemetery - In The Military
      • Arthurs, Peter Killed in Action World War I
      • Love, Michael V. Killed In The Line Of Duty
      • Jones, William D. Died of Wounds Received In Action World War I
      • Lucas, Bernard R. Killed In Action World War II
      • Lucas, William C. Died of Wounds Recieved In Action World War II
      • Luoma, Arvo A. Killed in Action World War II
      • McAtee, William J. Killed in Action Vietnam
      • Saari, John Killed in Action World War II
    • Hanna Cemetery - Japanese Monuments Transcribed
    • Grave Headstones for Hanna Miner Fatalities Buried Elsewhere than Hanna
    • Hanna Where Did They Come From?
  • The People
  • Schools
  • Coal Mines
    • A History of the Hanna Coal Miner from 1868 to 2017: Bob Leathers' Notebook
    • Hanna Basin Mining Companies and Mines
    • Men Injured in the Hanna Mines
    • 1903 June 30: Explosion of the Union Pacific Coal Company's No. 1 mine in Hanna >
      • Hanna 1903 Explosion Explained
      • List of Miners Killed in the June 30, 1903 Explosion
      • 1904 State Mine Inspector's Report for 1903 Explosion
      • 1903 Explosion Coroner's Inquest
      • 1903 Explosion - Earle Holmes Letter to Wilson Gobble
    • Hanna 1908 Mine Explosions Explained >
      • List of Miners Killed in the March 28, 1908 Explosions
      • 1908 Explosion Coroner's Inquest Report
      • Noah Young's 1908 Hanna Explosion Report to Governor B.B. Brooks
      • 1908 State Coal Mine Inspectors Report - 1908 Hanna Mine Number 1 Explosion
      • David M. Elias - State Mine Inspector Killed in 1908 Explosion
      • 1908 Explosion - Gov. B.B. Brooks Communiations
      • April 3, 1908 Chums From Boyhood Died Side By Side
      • April 16, 1908 U.P. May Not Be Liable
      • 1908: Newspaper Articles from The Wigan Observer in England About the March 28, 1908 Explosion of the Union Pacific Coal Company's No. 1 Mine in Hanna
      • Death of Noah Young - State Mine Inspector for the 1908 Explosion of Mine No. 1
    • 1916 Labor Agreement Between the United Mine Workers of America and the Southern Wyoming Coal Operators
    • 1917 Labor Agreement Between the United Mine Workers of America and the Southern Wyoming Coal Operators
    • 1970 - 1980: Bill Becker's Hanna Strip Mine Blasting Videos
  • Gallery
    • 1889-1912: ​ Elmer Larson - The Butvier Collection from Sally Hafdell and David Eriksson in Sweden
    • Images from Early Hanna Basin and Wyoming
    • Early History of the Union Pacific Railroad
    • 1910-1920: McNulty Family Photo Collection ​Albert Film - Hanna Basin Adventurer
    • 1920 -1930: Gert Milliken's Photo Collection of Unknown Children, Women, Men, and Families in Hanna
    • 1963 October 2: A Large Cattle Drive from Palm Livestock Company at Elk Mountain ​ to Hanna's Union Pacific Railroad Stockyard
    • 2017 April 18: Un​ion Pacific Steam Engine 844 Stopped at Hanna, Wyoming
    • 2019 May 17 and May 4: Big Boy​ 4014 and Engine 844 Were Running the Rails Again
    • Images of Old Carbon Today
  • Notebook

Cox, Joseph and Mary

Images and notes from Mary Beth Simmons-Sierer with contribution from Bob Leathers

In 1879, the lure of the west and the adventure it promised urged him to leave the east and search for newer fields and greater opportunities. He located in the then new and thriving coal mining village of Carbon where he became connected with the Union Pacific Railroad Company in the development of the mines at the place. Later Mr. Cox’s parents and younger brother and sister joined him in their new home where they lived for a number of years. (Mr. Butler, Union Pacific Coal Company) 
Picture
Joseph "Joe" Cox - Mine Development Supervisor of the Union Pacific Coal Company No. 1 and No. 2 mines in Hanna. (Picture from Mary Beth Simmon-Sierer)

Joseph Cox was a long-time resident of Carbon.  When the decision was made to move the coal mines from Carbon to Hanna in 1889, the responsibility of developing the No. 1 and No. 2 mine in Hanna was given to Joseph. 

Some historians and geneologists have Joseph Cox as the son of of John and Ann Cox who lived in Hanna and are buried in the Hanna Cemetery, but he is not.  He is the son of Richard and Elizabeth Cox.  Joseph's father Richard and son Charles (not pictured) are buried in the Carbon Cemetery in graves 110 and 111. 

Image taken about 1911 in Colorado. (Seated) Joseph Cox, father, Mary (Smith) Cox, mother  (Center) Irene, Dorothy, Alice,
(Back) Lester, Albert, Eva, Roy Joseph Jr. (Image provided by Mary Beth Simmons-Sierer)
Picture
FAMILY OF JOSEPH AND MARY COX, TAKEN ABOUT 1911. (PICTURE FROM MARY BETH SIMMON-SIERER)

​Old Time Union Pacific Coal Company Employee Passes On
By T. H. Butler
Union Pacific Coal Company' Employe's Magazine
The passing of Joseph Cox, at Phoenix, Arizona, on February 22nd, removes from our mist a real pioneer of the coal industry in the west.
 
Joseph Cox was born at Netherton, Worchestershire, England in the year 1852 and journeyed from his native land with his parents in the year 1865, locating at St. Claire, Pennyslvania.
 
In 1879, the lure of the west and the adventure it promised urged him to leave the east and search for newer fields and greater opportunities. He located in the then new and thriving coal mining village of Carbon where he became connected with the Union Pacific Railroad Company in the development of the mines at the place. Later Mr. Cox’s parents and younger brother and sister joined him in their new home where they lived for a number of years.
 
In the year 1889, Mr. Cox was married to Miss Mary Smith, a popular young lady of Carbon.
 
Joe, as they affectionately called him, demonstrated early in life that he was fitted for leadership and responsibility and held the position of driver boss and mine foreman in the mines at Carbon. He was transferred to Hanna and was placed in charge of the opening of the Hanna mines under the direction of the late L. R. Meyer, then Mine Superintendent at Carbon.
 
In 1892 Mr. Cox was transferred to Gray Creek, Colorado and had charge of the mines being worked under lease by the Union Pacific Coal Company. At the closing of the Gray Creek mines he entered the service of the Trinidad Fuel Company, as Superintendent of the Forbes and Midway mines and later operated the Jwell mine near Aguilar, Colorado, as part owner.
 
In the year 1912, Joe quit the mining game and settled on a farm at Hill Rose near Fort Morgan, Colorado, where he resided at the time of his death. He had been enjoying good health until a short time before his death when he commenced to fail and went to Phoenix, Arizona, with the hope that a change would restore him to health. But he continued to fail until death came quietly on February 22, 1927.
 
His remains were brought to Denver where he was laid away at the Fairmont Cemetery, the beautiful services of the Episcopal Church being used with the Masonic Fraternity in charge.
 
The passing of our old friend recalls to the writer and other old time residents of Carbon and Hanna his noble character and sterling qualities. We remember him as a man of courage and determination, quick to censure, but of a kind and sympathetic heart and forgiving nature, charitable in every respect. He was a westerner of the old west, a man one was proud to know and call friend. Joseph Cox was a brother of the late Mrs. George Pickering of Rock Springs, and will be remembered by all the old time residents there.
 
Deceased leaves to mourn his loss, a widow and four daughters; Mrs. Eva Pendleton of Hill Rose, Colorado; Mr. William Buntin of Colorado Springs; and Dorothy and Irene Cox of Hill Rose, Colorado; and four sons: Roy C. Cox of Denver, Colorado; Joseph Cox, Jr. of Pasadena, California, and Bert and Lester Cox of Hill Rose, Colorado; and one brother, Robert Cox, of Hanna, besides a host of friends in Wyoming and Colorado, all of whom extend their heartfelt sympathy to the bereaved family and relatives.
Picture
Joseph Cox, on the right, at his coal mine in Aguilar, Colorado (Picture from Mary Beth Simmon-Sierer)
Website Note: The Joseph Cox family and the John Cox family, both from Hanna were not related.

Hanna Basin Museum Website – A Connection To The Past